Window screen



wmnow spam: Filed July 7, i939 1N VENTORS Ju lie/7 Lou/s F Frank BE. 5777/7 ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 9, 1941 "UNITED sTAr-es El-NT 'QF FI-CE WINDOW SCREEN Louis F. Julien,

Billing, Detroit,

Metal Weather Strip Company,

Frank R. E. Smith, and EdgarL. Mich., assignors' to'Chamberlin Detroit, Mich.,

4 Claims.

This invention relates towindow screens, the object being to provide a new and improved screenstructure for usein screening window openings in buildings. The screen is particularly adapted for use in psychiatric hospitals and asylums and is of sufficient strength of fabric and .of a form to provide a screenfabric yieldable under pressure applied thereto and in which the edges of the screen are housed within a recess provided in the framemember therefor. The arrangement further provides a structure in which there are no portions thereof permitting the inmates to tamper therewith and avoids use of the usual bars across the window openings heretofore commonly used to prevent the inmates effecting an exit. By use of our improved screen all indication of barred window openings is avoided and thusthe inmates are notdisturbed by the thought of confinement induced by use of bars.

A further feature and object of the invention is .toprovide a. screen structure in which the fabric is maintained under tension, the arrangement being such that tension is applied at several opposed points on opposite sides-of the frame whether the frame be of rectangular form with straightsides or frames of other peripheral shape.

It. is also anobjectof the invention to provide a screen .structure comprising spaced binding strips and internal bracing lugs located therebetween.

These and other objects and features of the invention are hereinafter morefully described and claimed and the preferred character ofconstruction of a screen embodying our invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing in which- Fig. 1 is a cross section of a side rail and portion of screen showing our improved construction.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the parts as used in a rectangular frame work.

Fig. 3- is a section similar to that shown in Fig. 1 showing. an alternative arrangement-of parts.

It is to be understood that the screen may be other than of rectangular form of frame and screen fabric as theinvention is utilizable in hexagonal, circular in form, or when one or more sides of the frame have-a form on a radius as maybe required to fit various shapes of openings. In either case,-however, the, frame and the. fabric tensioning .means:.are .allof the same character.

In the rectangular form of screen shown-in Fig. 2 the side rail l is joined to the top cross rail 2 by welded joints 3 and a strengthening bar 4 maybe secured to the two parts I and 2 at the :corner and a further strengtheningplate 5 may also extend across the corner within the frame as indicated in Fig. 2 securing the, flange 6 of the rail 1 .to the similar flange I of the cross rail 2.

In the preferred construction the rails are substantially rectangular .in cross section and formed of two separable sheet metal parts I: and 8. Strengthening 'lugsil are providedtherebetween and preferably welded to the portion I while the part 8 is secured to the strengthening lug-9 by means of screws 10.

The part I provides a smooth and unobstructed surface which serves as the interior face of the frame and-the opposite side wall of the part I is. return bentas indicated at ll,1to form a recess to receive-an inturned end [2. of the member 8 and, after assembly of these return bent: portions, the screw I0 is introduced to hold the part8 inassembled relation with the part I. The part 8 on the side rails are notsecuredto the similar removable part on the cross rails. By removal of the part 8 of the several rails,: the screen fabric is readily introduced with its peripheral edge in the recess of. the frame. member l.

The twoside wallsl and .8 are inturned .at their inner edge as indicated at l3 and. I4 and are spaced at their inner edges .to provide an opening to the recess [5 into'which the'edge of the screen fabric is introduced. Theedge of the screen within the recess has secured thereto, on the respective opposite sides, strips l1 and 18 which are secured together by means of screws I9. Thesestrips I! and 18 at their outer edges are outbent and then inbent to form channels 20 in each case, which are. opposed to the channels formed by .theinbent. portions l3 and [4 of the. frame. The strips ll and I8 are of comparative short lengthsso that there are several such strips in both the 'side and end rails. A greater or less .length of stripnmay be utilized as maybe desired and are spaced .well .apart at the meeting point of the side andend. rails.

Each of the strips I! and 18 has a lug-2l inbent about the central portion of a bow spring 22. as will be clearly understood from Figs. 1 and 2, and the free ends 23 and 24 of each spring seat in the channel, 13 or I4 for the springs on opposite sides of the .fabric and are slidable "therein. In: assembling the-parts hand e oft-he sion to thereby place the fabric l6 under tension. By the arrangement of the strips I! and I8 in short lengths the fabric is more uniformly tensioned than if they were of the full length of the fabric as shown in our U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,173,334, Sept. 19, 1939. Greater uniformity in tension is therefore secured in the structure as herein shown as separate portions of the fabric are independently tensioned while, with the strips running the full length of the edge of the fabric, portions thereof which may have a little greater fullness in the weaving of the fabric, will not be under the same tension as other por- -:tions of less fullness. Thereby by use of the short strip we are able to secure a more uniform tension throughout the fabric than with the full length strip,

It is further to be noted that by use of a b spring slidable in the portions l3 and M of the frame and fixed to the strip l1 and 18 the fabric may shift as a whole'relative to the frame and thus although the springs may not all be exactly alike in deflection under tension the fabric may be centered in the frame under equal tension from all sides.

An alternative form and arrangement of parts is shown in Fig. 3 in which a flat bow spring is used rather than the round wire spring 22 previously described. For use with the flat spring as shown in Fig. 3 the end portions I3 and I 4', corresponding to the portions l3 and [4 shown in Fig. 1, are provided with flat surfaces 26 in each instance, and the strips l7 and I8"l1kewise having fiat surfaces are engaged by the ends and central bowed portion of the respective springs.

The portions H and I8 each have an 1nturned portion 21 for fastening the spring to the strip. These springs 25 function and are similar to the springs 22 previously described.

It is believed evident from the foregoing description that the various features and objects of the invention are attained by the structure described and. by which an efficient screen is provided which not only prevent ingress of insects and the like but will provide an effective barrier preventing destruction by inmates of an asylum seeking an egress therefrom.

Having thus fully described our invention, its utility and mode of operation, what we claim and desire to secure by' Letters Patent of the United'States is:

1. A window screencomprising a rectangular frame, the several rails thereof each being formed of separable sheet metal parts and providing a recess therebetween and inturned at the inner edge to provide an opening to the interior of the frame of less width than the width of the frame, a wire screen of rectangular form havingthe edges thereof extending through the opening of the respective rails and into the recess thereof, a series of strip on each edge of the screen within the recess of each rail, said strips being in spaced relation longitudinally of the screen edge, and the strips at each corner of the fabric being spaced apart, each of the strips being arranged to provide an abutment on each side of the screen and opposed to the inturned edge of the rail on respective sides of the screen, lugs between adjacent ends of the strips on each side of the screen for securing the sheet metal frame parts together, a spring between the abutments of the several strips on each side of the screen andthe respective opposed abutments on k rail, said parts when assembled less than the length of the side the rail placed under compression in the asse1iibly of the parts to thereby place the fabric under tension.

2. A window screen comprising a rectangular frame, the several rails thereof each being formed of separable sheet metal parts and providing a recess therebetween and inturned at the inner edge to provide an opening to the interior of the frame of less width than the width of the frame, a wire screen of rectangular form having the edges thereof extending through the opening of the respective rails and into the recess thereof, a plurality of strips arranged in pairs in spaced end to end relation on each edge of the screen within the recess of each rail, the strips at 'each corner of the fabric being spaced apart, each of the strips being arranged to provide an abutment on each side of the screen and opposed to the inturned edge of the rail on respective sides of the screen, means for securing the rails together at each corner, and a lug secured to each of the two parts of each rail and positioned in the space between the pairs of strips on each edge of the screen, a spring between the abutments of the several strips on each side of the screen and the respective opposed abutments on the rail placed under compression in the assembly of the parts to thereby place the fabric under tension.

3. A window screen comprising a rectangular frame formed of separable sheet metal parts, one of the said parts of each rail being attached at the corner to the same part of the contiguous forming a hollow rail, each of the rails of the frame having the two parts thereof inturned to opposed spaced relation at the inner edge, providing an opening at the lnner face opposing the opposite rail, a screen fabric of rectangular form having edges inserted in the opening of the respective rail into the recess thereof, a plurality of strips on each edge of the screen arranged in opposed pairs, the pairs being spaced apart in end to end relation and the overall length of said pairs being of the fabric to which they are attached, each strip being formed to provide an abutment on the respective side of the fabric'in opposition to the in-' turned edges of the respective rails, a plurality of springs on each side of the screen between the abutments of each of the strips and the opposed inturned portions of the respective rails placed under compression in the assembly of parts to thereby maintain the fabric under tension on a line parallel with its plane, and a fastening means between the two parts of each rail located in the pace between the pairs of strips.

4. A window screen comprising a rectangular frame, the several rails thereof each being formed of separable sheet metal parts and providing a recess therebetween and inturned at the inner edge to provide an opening to the interior of the frame of less width than the width of the frame, a wire screen of rectangular form having the edges thereof extending through the opening of the respective rails and into the recess thereof, a series of strips in spaced end to end relation on each edge of the screen within the recess of each rail, each of the said strips being formed of two like parts each having a base on opposite sides of the fabric and secured together and to the fabric, eachcf the parts of the said strip having outturned portions and the inner inturned edge of each part of the and means for fastening the two parts of the 10 rail together comprising an element positioned in the space between the strips on each side of the rail and secured to the respective parts of the rail, and means for attaching one of the parts of each rail at the corner to the like part of the contiguous rail.

LOUIS F. JULIEN. FRANK R. E. SMITH. EDGAR L. BILLING. 

